Cuban tourism operators breathed a sigh of relief this week as the first tourists in months returned to sip mojitos and snap selfies in vintage cars in the capital Havana, providing a much-needed shot in the arm to the Caribbean island’s ailing economy.
Communist-run Cuba has vaccinated nearly its entire population with home-grown inoculations, prompting authorities last week to re-open the country’s borders to tourism after a nearly two-year hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic.
New infections have dropped off sharply across the country in recent weeks, according to official statistics.
The Bodeguita del Medio, a restaurant bar that claims to be the birthplace of the mojito cocktail, was bustling on a sunny November day as bartenders prepared mint-laced drinks for largely European tourists in shorts and t-shirts.
Ernesto Hechevarria, a 55-year old tourism guide, told Reuters outside the bar once frequented by author Ernest Hemingway that foreign visitors would breathe…